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Published: December 30th 2007
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Local animal at Iguazu Falls, BrazilThe truck left at five o'clock on Sunday morning, well before I was up for Church! We drove all day & arrived into Foz D Iguazu well after dark to a crappy buffet at the campsite, which looked like it had been sitting out for hours. So far, I don't think anybody on the truck is particularly impressed with Brazillian food.
Because we arrived so late, it was beer o'clock straight after dinner & the campsite had arranged a salsa party beginning at eleven. I don't know why it was called a salsa party because it was all house & techno music playing & nobody was doing any salsa dancing. There was a truckload of Kumuka people wearing bikinis (even the boys) & lays, but that just made it look like a hawaiian themed party.
The party deteriorated into an all in game of keep the ball off everybody not on the Kumuka truck, in the pool. A few plastic chairs got broken, but on the whole, apart from being etremely loud, everybody was very well behaved. Before I knew it, it was five in the morning & the bar was well & truly closed, so I stumbled
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Iguazu Falls, Brazil off to bed.
Had to get up early on Monday morning to visit Iguazu Falls from the Brazillian side. Not long after opening my eyes, I was cursing myself for drinking far too much alcohol & not getting nearly enough sleep. The truck dropped us off & we made our way by bus & on foot to a bunch of viewing areas. Took stacks of photos & spent a while in the spray of the falls, which thankfully took the edge off my hangover. Think I sweated out most of the alcomohol (yes, that is officially the new terminology) before lunch, because it was possibly THE hottest day of the trip thus far.
Went across to the Bird Park after the falls & headed straight for the kiosk for a fantastic semi greasy hamburger. Spent a couple hours holding snakes & parrots & exploring the aviaries. They had all sorts of birds there, Toucans that looked fake, the most colourful parrots I've ever seen & hummingbirds so small & fast it was impossible to take their photograph. There were two strange little creatures, which looked like a cross between a bat & a monkey. They had evil,
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Iguazu Falls, Brazil yet strangely cute faces & were facinated by us, coming right up to the cage wire. As tempted to pat one as I was, I refrained as I wasn't quite sure of their friendliness & half expected a mouthful of razor sharp teeth to take my finger off.
Back at camp, I decided the only thing to cure my hangover was more beer, no surprises there... Tonight it was Oasis' turn to rule the pool, which we did with much fanfare. Our whole truck was in at one stage & we did simultaneous bombs & played dominoes, where you line up on the edge & fall in one by one. Had heaps of fun, but I'm sure the rest of the campsite thought we were quite mad. Wasn't up for a big one like last night & was tucked away in my tent around midnight.
Had a hassle free border crossing into Argentina on Tuesday morning. Stopped at the border town for a couple of hours to change money, check emails & have lunch. I managed to order a toasted ham, cheese & salad sandwich, even though I didn't know what the menu said, or what the
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Nicolle at Iguazu Falls, Brazil waitress was saying. She couldn't understand enlish either, so when I spied chocolate milk in the fridge, I ended up with the full litre, rather than a glass. Needless to say, Nikki & Carly had to help me finish it because that much chocolate milk is way too much for one person; even one with the biggest craving.
Drove to the campsite & attempted a spot of journal writing, but quickly fell asleep. The place had two swimming pools, however word quickly spread that there must have been other trucks in recently & the water was manky, so none of us went in.
I was on cook group & we made kebabs with salad, fire roasted potatoes & some fantastic creamy filling, which I really need to get the recipe for. Started drinking white wine with the girls during preparation & continued with the group after dinner. We all sat around telling stories & talking crap until I'd had enough around midnight & wandered off to bed.
Visited Iguazu falls from the Argentinian side on Wednesday. Took a speed boat up river & under a few falls, getting thoroughly drenched in the process. Did a walking
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Iguazu Falls, Brazil tour around & out to the falls, which was just spectacular. I would even go so far as to say the Iguazu Falls are more impressive than Victoria Falls & it's not even the wet season here yet. Don't know how this place got left off the seven natural world wonders list, because it's just amazing.
Caught the slowly rowed inflatable raft back to the train station, which would have been nice, except for the stifling heat & direct sun we had to sit under. Took the train back to the parks entrance, had a drink, some food & passed time in the air conditioned restaurant before the truck collected us.
Because food shopping had to be done after Tony dropped us back at camp, dinner was very late. There wasn't much else to do but go to bed afterwards, in preparation for an early departure tomorrow.
Although we had to leave early on Thursday morning, the Budget truck in the campsite next to us left even earlier. This wouldn't have been a problem, except they failed to observe basic camp rules of trying to be even remotely quiet at 5:30am. I understand that some noise
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Nicolle at Iguazu Falls, Brazil is inevitable when packing up a truck, but shouting across the campground is just NOT cricket! Can't wait to catch up with the Trevor truck again to give them a piece of my mind. In fact, some sort of payback might even be in order; Hmmm, beautiful, sweet revenge...
Drove to the Jesuit ruins in San Ignacio, which would have been far more interesting had an english speaking guide been available. As it was, we didn't know much about the area, but it was still interesting to walk around the ruins. Had lunch across the road once we'd had enough of the exploring. I had a beef schnitzel sandwich & a yummy chocolate icecream, much like a Cornetto for dessert.
We drove to our campsite, which was on the riverbank across from Paraguay. We arrived mid afternoon, so whiled away the day swimming, kicking the football around & partaking in a few beers. Made friends with the camp dog, who accidentally scratched me with his sharp puppy teeth. Only bled a bit, but was thankful I'd had my rabies shots ... just kidding mum, I'm sure he was quite healthy.
The cook group excelled themselves with a
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Nicolle at Iguazu Falls, Brazil macaroni & cheese, with ham & tomato creation. Stayed up for a few more beers chatting, before bedtime.
Early start to Friday because we had a twelve hour driving day. Was quite a boring stretch on the truck & we arrived after dark into Salto. after crossing the border into Uruguay. Did a dinner shop then pushed on to our lodgings, which were more of a quagmire than a campground. I wasn't feeling very well, so skipped dinner & went to bed early.
Woke up feeling much better on Saturday & felt even better after a dip in the hot springs at our campsite. Would have gone in last night, had I known it was so close, but all I saw in the dark upon arrival was the pool, which was empty.
Once again, had a long drive day & arrived into Montevideo in the late afternoon. Had enough time to put in washing & freshen up before meeting the group in the lobby to go out for dinner. Had to wait down the block from our restaurant because George W Bush was having dinner at the restaurant next door & all the surrounding streets
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Iguazu Falls, Brazil had been blocked off.
Had a beer at the local Irish Bar, then headed to Don Pedros once Bushy had vacated the area. I ordered steak, which unfortunately came out over cooked, as did anyone's who ordered anything under medium to well done. It was more disappointing because this restaurant was recommended as having fantastic steaks you could supposedly eat with a spoon, & it was expensive too. The dessert though, more than made up for the mains. Duncan & I ordered a selection platter, which we shared with the group because it was enough food for about six people!
After dinner, Penny, Rob, Duncan, Andy & myself went back to the nightclub area & had a couple of drinks at one of the bars. They played alot of Ricky Martin & Shakira singing in Spanish, which was cool. The others wanted to go to another bar, but both Duncan & I had had enough, so we cabbed it back to the hotel.
There were a heap of US airforce guys staying all over town because of Georgey's visit. There was a bunch at our hotel & when I got back they were in the lobby, chatting
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Iguazu Falls, Brazil with some of our group. One guy serenaded me, then gave Tango lessons to Robyn. I stayed up for a couple of hours with the group just messing around, it was good fun.
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Jean-Philippe
non-member comment
Beautiful
Hi Nicolle, Great idea to keep a journal with pictures. You are living a fabulous experience.